Sunfish: The Ocean’s Most Useless Fish

By MIAH STRINGER

Staff Writer

The Rantings of a Gothic Atheist: Mola mola, the Ocean Sunfish

The Ocean Sunfish, or Mola Mola fish, is considered to be one of the most pointless living organisms on Earth. This giant fish weighs up to 5, 500 pounds and is the world’s largest bony fish. Reaching up to 14 feet vertically and 10 feet horizontally, these large fish are basically pointless in the ocean’s ecosystem. For one, their large fins and body structure render them very clumsy at swimming. Their lack of a swim bladder, which keeps fish from sinking and helps them stay afloat and swim, means that they have to continue their wiggling just to stay afloat. Oftentimes, they get stuck on the surface of the water due to the fact that they can’t swim very well, where they sunbathe. While they are on the surface, birds and other organisms feed off their parasites, which is the only thing that the Sunfish does for the ecosystem. On top of this, the Sunfish does not serve as a food source to anything else in the ocean. However, despite the lack of nutrition, the Sunfish choose jellyfish as their primary food source. These oddly-shaped flattened fish are still a mystery to many scientists, and a lot about them is unknown. However, the Ocean Sunfish is just one example of how many weird things are in the ocean!

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